Issue Position: Tax Relief and Reform

Issue Position

Congressman Leonard Lance believes New Jerseyeans pay too much in taxes. New Jersey also has the highest state and local tax burden, the second highest business tax burden and the state collects more property taxes per capita than any other jurisdiction.

For his part, Congressman Lance supports renewing the soon-to-expire 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, and have been a vocal opponent to the president's plan to raise taxes on New Jerseyeans making $250,000 or more.

Congressman Lance voted in favor of fully eliminating the "death tax" and is a cosponsor of legislation to repeal the onerous Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). New Jersey's Seventh District is in the top 10 of congressional districts whose constituents are adversely affected by the AMT.

And recently, Congressman Leonard Lance has led the effort with a group of House Republicans in sending a letter to the President expressing our opposition to a European-style value-added tax, or VAT.

On health care, his opposition to the new law was due in large part to the fact that the bill included $570 billion in new tax increases, including tax increases on New Jersey's small businesses, working families, hospitals, senior citizens and medical device makers. In fact, there are so many new taxes that federal analysts estimate that up to 16,500 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents will be needed to collect, examine and audit new tax information mandated on families and small businesses by the new health care law.